Dynamics of the Arctic Ocean Boundary Current: A Numerical Modeling Study of Key Locations

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Arctic Ocean Boundary Current (AOBC) is a relatively narrow current that flows mainly along the upper continental slope around much of the Arctic Ocean, serving as the major pathway by which water properties, such as heat, salt, contaminants, and tracers are distributed around the Arctic perimeter and delivered to the intermediate depths of the deep basins. The AOBC originates in the Greenland-Norwegian Sea, where relatively warm Atlantic waters flow into the Arctic via two branches, one through Fram Strait and one across the Barents Sea. Along its path, the AOBC encounters regions of complex bathymetry, where the current is altered, redirected and partially mixed into the deep basins. Funds are provided to investigate the fundamental dynamics of the AOBC at three key locations: St. Anna Trough, the Lomonosov Ridge, and the Mendeleyev Ridge/Chukchi Borderland. A high-resolution, three-dimensional, primitive-equation, numerical model will be used in both idealized and realistic configurations to understand the details of the adjustment of the AOBC to the bathymetry. Existing observations will be used both to provide realistic inflow conditions and to compare with the numerical results. The dynamics of these key locations are poorly understood, and large-scale pan-Arctic models do not resolve their details, so the time is ripe for such a regional process study